Heel sander



Nov. 21, 1961 R. G. FULLAM HEEL SANDER Filed July 17, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 21, 1961 R. G. FULLAM HEEL SANDER Filed July 17, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheei'I 2 as F 7a 77 l@ "u -aa l ,l l al 4 Isweazorf.' Rl'caazfd i1-miam R. G. FULLAM Nov. 21, 1961 HEEL SANDER Filed July 17, i958 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 d 6,5m, 'y @7277' .M

Nov. 21, 1961 R. G. FULLAM 3,009,296

HEEL SANDER Filed July 1'7, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Nov. 21, 1961l Filed July 17, 1958 R. G. FULLAM I3,009,296

HEEL SANDER 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nov. 21, 1961 R. G. FULLAM 3,009,296

HEEL SANDER l Filed July 17, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Iawenow.- Bl'c'azd @.Fulaaaw, y 64m?? f M uozga United States Patent Oilice 3,009,296 Patented Nov. 21, 12161` 3,68%29-5 HEEL SANDER Richard G. Fullam, North Brookfield, Mass., assigner to Quaboug Rubber Company, North Brookiield, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed .luly 17, 1958, Ser. No. 749,175 3 Ciaixns. (Ci. 51--134) This invention relates to machinery for conducting automatic sanding operations on a succession of similar articles. It has [been found to be of particular use in connection with the sanding of rubber heels, of which certain types have the bottom surface sanded before shipping to the manufacturer or other user. One of the problems presented in the sanding of rubber heels is that of maintaining the plane o-f the heel surface prior to and `during sanding parallel to the surface of the sander so that a minimum layer of material may be removed equally over the entire surface.

Accordingly, one of the objects of the invention is the provision'of a machine which will automatically present the heel to be sanded to the sanding surface in parallelism therewith or, if desired, at a determinable angle, coupled with means lfor holding the heel against the sander for a uniform time and at a uniform pressure whereby all of the heels of a given run will be sanded uniformly.

It will be understood that while the machine disclosed herein has been designed specifically for the sanding o-f rubber heels, nevertheless other objects of any selected material, rubber or otherwise, could be sanded in the same manner by merely varying the shape `of the socket or cavity in which the article is initially placed by the operator and by providing a suitably shaped supporting element at the sanding station.

Another object `of the invention is the provision of a sanding mechanism in which the article to be sanded is supported at the sanding station by a specially designed plate having its upper surface contoured to lit. in cooperating and supporting relation with the under side of the article so that the article will be uniformly pressed against the sanding surface over its entire area. The invention further contemplates a novel supporting plate which. is adjustably mounted whereby the article to be sanded may be presented against the sanding surface in parallelism thereto or at a slight angle if it be deemed necessary so that the finished article will be properly dimensioned.

A `further object of the invent-ion is to provide means for intially supporting the heels on one element While they are being moved to the sanding position and transferring them to a second separate supporting element on which the heels rest during the actual sanding operation and thereafter shifting the heels from the second supporting element to another supporting element as they are moved away from the sanding position prior to discharge from the machine.

In the machine disclosed herein, the construction is such that two heels are sanded simultaneously, but it will be understood that the indexing plate having the cavities in which the heels yare positioned might be modified so that three or more heels might be sanded simultaneously in cooperation with a rotary disk sander large enough to function properly on `all of the heels presented thereto.

Still another `object of the invention is the provision of supporting and indexing means that, after indexing, becomes fixed with respect to the special supporting elements at the sanding station so that during the sanding more apparent as the description proceeds with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which FIG. l is a side elevation of the machine viewed from the left. Y

FIG. 2 is a side elevation viewed from the right.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view looking somewhat downwardly toward the fro-nt of the machine at the loading position with the sander swung to the left away from normal operating position.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the table taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a view taken on the line 5 5 of FIG. 4 showing the heel supporting means at the sanding position.

FIG. 6 is a perspective View of the heel shown in FIG. 5 looking from front to rear and showing the greater depth of the heel `at the rear.

FIG. 7 is a vertical section to enlarged dimensions taken on the line 7 7 of FIG; 4 showing the mechanism for raising and lowering the table and heels.

FIG. 8 shows the wiring diagram and the vario-us controls that initiate the sequence of operations.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the essential elements of the machine will now be pointed out. The machine, which rests on the floor 2, has a base 4 on which is a cylinder carrying post 6 which supports a second post 8 telescoped thereover. Post 8 is movable vertically with respect to post 6 and carries thereon most of the operative mechanisms. On the upper end-of post 8 is a shelf 1t) carrying in fixed relation an index table 12 and a-stationary non-rotatable riding plate 14. Another plate 16 immediately above plate 14 is fixed to index table 12 and capable of indexing in accordwith actuation of the indexing mechanism. f

It will be noted that the center line of the postsv and 8 is not in `alignment with the center of the indexing table 12. The reason for this is to give better balance to the elements carried by post 8 when the heels are forced upwardly 'against the sanding disk. It will be understood, however, that the position of the posts 6 and 8v is not critical, and theymay even be in alignment with indexing table 12 if of suflicient rigidity.

The post 8 contains air operated piston mechanism therewithin so constructed that post 8 and all parts affixed thereto and including shelf 10, plate 14 and plate 16 may -be moved up and down as a unit to carry the heels into and out of engagement with the sanding disk.

The sanding disk is'shown at 18 and is driven by a motor 20 havin-g its shaft in vertical position. In a preferred form the disk is about 12 inches in diameter and is `driven vat 174() r.p.m. by :a 5 hp. motor. DiskI 18 is covered by a protecting'housing 22, which housingV is attached to a dust hood 24. An opening 26 (see FIG. 4) leads upwardly from hood 24 to an exhaust duct 28 connected with an exhaust blower. By thisl means rubber dust generated during the sanding operation will be carried away.

tMotor 20 is mounted on `a vertical plate St) hinged at 32` to another plate 34 affixed to a cohunn 36 having its lower end secured to. base 4.. By this Ihinge arrangement the motor 20 and sanding. disk 18 can be swung from operative position as shown in FIGS. l and 2 to an inoperative position as shown in FIG. 3, at which position theA sanding disks can be changed. The con,- nected flanges 38 shown in FIG. 2 permit the duct 28 to be separated sotthat motor 20 can be moved to the position of FIG. 3.

Various controls are attached to shelf 10 and move up' and down as a unit with the shelf and plates as the machine goes through the various cycles. These controls constitute a timer 40 which determines the length of time the heels shall'be in engagement with the sander,

a start and stop switching means 42, and an adjustable pressure reducing valve 44 for controlling the 80 pounds of air pressure used in forcing the air piston upward to drive the heels against the sanding disk.

Other control elements include a one-way dog micro indexing switch 52 (normally open) which is actuated when descent of post 8 causes the switch arm 54 to strike a stop 56 fastened to post 6.

Another micro switch 46 (normally open) having an actuating arm 48 makes contact as the arm is disengaged by projection 50 fastened to post 8. The twoway air valve S8 is arranged so that when shifted to advance position by solenoid valve 58a air will enter the under side of the piston shown in FIG. 7 to drive the post 8 and associated parts upward thereby to carry out the sanding operation by forcing the heels against disk 18, and when shifted to retract position by solenoid valve SSb will force post 8 downwardly making Contact with micro switch 52 again indexing rotatable plate 16 by indexing table 12.

In order to soften the descent of post 8 and associated elements and also help to overcome weight of shelf 10, a compression spring 60 is mounted between a pair of brackets 62 and 64, the former being aiiixed to post 6 and the latter to post 8.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4, and 7, it will be seen that there are a plurality of removable plates 66 positioned in corresponding suitable openings 68 in upper rotatable plate 16, plates 66 having therein openings 70 so shaped to receive freely the particular sized heel that is to be sanded during a run. Plates 66 are removable from rotatable plate 16 so that plates having other sized openings 70 may be substituted to receive other sized heels.

Plate 16, as previously explained, is affixed to the upper rotatable portion of indexing table 12 so that upon operation of the indexing table plate 16 will be caused to rotate clockwise in steps of equal degrees. In the construction shown, the angular advance is 60 degrees, but this can be varied if thought desirable. Indexing tables are well known in the art, and accordingly need not be explained herein. A table suitable for use in the present machine is made by The Bellows Company, Akron, Ohio, and is described in their circular showing Model BRET-IOC. The index table is actuated by a compressed air cylinder shown at 71 in FIG. 7, the solenoid actuated valve of which is caused to open by operation of one-way dog micro switch 52 (normally open) at the halfway point of the downstroke of post 8. Included in the indexing table is an impulse switch 73 (see FIG. 8) which at the completion of the 60 degree rotation of plate 16 actuates solenoid 58a of valve 58 to cause post 8 and the table 16 to move upward.

The time the heels are in engagament with the sanding disk is determined by the setting of timer 40. Timer 40 likewise is a device well known in the art and is not described in detail herein. A suitable timer is made by The Bellows Company, Akron, Ohio, Model BTl. The timer 40 is put in operation by the closing of micro switch 46 (normally open) through disengagement of arm 48 with projection 50 as post 8 commences its upward movement. At the end of the timed period the timer actuates solenoid 58b therewithin causing the twoway valve 58 to shift its position so that air is fed to the upper side of the `air piston shown in FIG. 7 and the lower side is open to exhaust thereby permitting post 8 to descend. At the halfway point of the descent oneway dog micro switch 52 is actuated putting the air cylinder 71 of the indexing table again in operation to rotate plate 16 through another 60 degrees.

In the operation of the machine, the operator stands at a position in front adjacent start and stop switch 42. A supply of heels will be present in an adjacent box. These heels may be picked up and placed two at a time in the openings 70 at station A. This is shown in FIG. 3,

in which the heels are numbered 72. As stated, the first pair of heels will be inserted at position A. The start button is then pushed, after which table 16 is raised, lowered and advanced 60 degrees so that the heels originally at position A are carried to position B and another pair of heels are inserted in the new open spaces 70 then in front of the operator. After a third indexing movement, the tirst pair of heels reaches position D at which position they are under the sanding disk 18. Then through the operation of the various instrumentalities the heels are raised to be pressed against the under side of the disk 18 with a determinable pressure for a determinable period. This causes proper sanding of the heels, after which they are lowered and table 16 is rotated through another 60 degrees bringing the heels just sanded to position E. At this position there are openings through the plate 14 so that when the plates 14 and 16 are raised to conduct the next sanding operation, the heels at position E will encounter the vertically iixed ejectors 74 and 76 carried by bar 77 fixed to post 36. This will prevent upward movement of the heels thereby forcing them downwardly relative to plates 14 and 16 so that they fall on a chute 78 to be collected in a container placed thereunder.

It will be understood that as the heels travel from position A to sanding position D, they are carried circularly by the rotation of plate 16 but are supported on their under sides by plate 14 which does not rotate. However, when the heels arrive at position D, Special mechanism which will now be described is provided which insures that the upper surface of the heel will be brought into and maintained in substantial parallelism with the sanding surface of disk 18 whereby this heel and all succeeding heels will be sanded uniformly over its entire upper surface area.

Since the under side of the heel that has been resting on plate 14 is generally of a concave formation and hence not parallel to the upper surface, it is essential that the heel supporting means at the sanding position be of such shape and configuration as to engage the under side of the heel over its entire area so that when the upper surface of the heel is pressed against the sander it will be pressed with uniform pressure over its entire area. The construction by which this is accomplished is best shown in FIGS. 5 and 7.

Secured to the shelf 10 at each of the two sanding stations at position D are four vertical posts 80, 82, 84 and 86. In FIG. 5, posts 84 and 86 are directly behind posts 82 and 80, and in FIG. 7 the posts 80 and 86 are directly behind posts 82 and 84 as is indicated by the manner in which the posts have been broken away. The upper ends of these posts are threaded as at 88 and a pair of nuts 90 and 92 are threaded thereon, the upper nuts 92 providing means for vertical adjustment of the upper ends. The upper nuts 92 extend above the upper ends of the posts 80, 82, 84 and 86 and the lower nuts 90 act as locking means. Resting on the upper surfaces of the four upper nuts 92 is a contour plate 94 of such lateral dimensions as to fit comfortably within a corresponding opening 96 in plate 14. The bottom face 98 of plate 94 may be a plane surface resting on the four upper nuts 92 while the upper face 100 is shaped in a convex manner to match the concave face 101 of the under side of heel 72. It will be noted that the curved vertical rear face 102 of the heel is of greater vertical dimension than the center of the front face 104, and for this reason the contour plate must be shaped as shown in order that the upper surface of the heel as at 106 will lie substantially horizontally so as to be parallel with the corresponding horizontal face of the sanding disk 18.

Each heel 72 in its travel from position A to sanding position D has been carried by the step by step movement of plate 16 while sliding along on the upper surface of the stationary riding plate 14. Means must therefore be provided for transferring the heel 72 from plate 14 to contour plate 94. This is accomplished by having the surface 108 of contour plate 94 over which the heel first advances on a level with, or preferably slightly below, the upper surface 110 of plate 14. Thus as the heel 72 is advanced from position C to position D, its leading face 104 passes freely from plate 14 to the upper face of contour plate 94 as it is pushed along by movement of rotating plate 16. When plate 16-comes to a halt at position D, heel 72 will be truly positioned on contour plate 94, and in this position the upper surface 1116 will be parallel to the sanding disk 1S. If it is not parallel, nuts 96 and 92 may be adjusted until parallelism is achieved. Thereafter when post 8 moves upwardly carrying with it shelf 10 and all of the other associated parts, including contour plate 94, heel 72 will be pressed against the sanding disk with a pressure determined by the air pressure present inthe air cylinder acting upwardly on the piston mechanism and it will be held against the `disk at this pressure for a length of time determined by the setting of timer 40. In this way every heel carried by the machine to the sanding position will be sanded the same amount.

It will be understood that there are two contour plates at position D, both mounted on similar sets of adjustable supports so that two heels may be sanded simultaneously. It will be further understood that the dimensions of the machine might be increased so that three or more heels might be sanded simultaneously. However, it has been foundthatv the .sanding of two heels simultaneously is good operationalpractice as it places the heels duringsanding equidistant from the center of the sanding disk.

The initial spacing of the upper surface 106 of heel 72 from the sanding disk 13 is not important because the piston mechanism that will shortly be described moves the heels upwardly until they engage the sanding disk. The pressure against the disk is not affected by the extent of the upward travel. Thus the adjustment of the nuts 90 and 92 is principally for the purpose of bringing the heel surface in parallelism with the sanding disk rather than to provide any particular initial spacing of the heel from the disk when the post 8 is in down position.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the piston mechanism that raises and lowers the post 8 and related parts will be explained. The xed post 6, as shown, extends upwardly within post S, which is telescoped thereover. A crossbar 110 in post 6 has fixed thereto an upwardly extending cylinder 112. Within cylinder 112 is a piston 114 having a piston rod 116 which extends upwardly through a suitably packed bushing 113 in the upper cylinder head 121) of cylinder 112. The upper end of piston rod 116 is secured to shelf 10 in any convenient manner as, for example, by nuts 121. When the piston is in down position, shelf 10 will rest on the upper end of post 6. Upward movement of piston 116 will be limited by engagement of the heels 72 with sanding disk 18. Ports 122 and 124 are so located as to admit compressed air to the upper or lower sides of piston 114 according to the setting of two-way air valve 58. When compressed air enters cylinder 112 through port 122, port 124 will be open to the atmosphere so that air in the upper part of the cylinder can be exhausted as the lpiston moves upwardly. Thereafter when valve 58 is shifted through operation of timer 40, compressed air will enter through port 124 and the air below the piston will be exhausted through port 122. Port 122 is connected to valve 58 by hose 126 and port 124 is connected to valve 58 by hose 128 (see FIG. l).

Too sudden stopping of downward movement of piston 114, shelf 11i and plates 14 and 16 is prevented by the cooperation of compression spring 61) heretofore referred to.

A safety feature is also included in the construction in the form of an anti-index micro switch (normally open) shown at 131i in FIG. 3. This switch has 4a 'linger 132 extending downwardly therefrom which in normal operation will be in alignment with one of the six equally spaced holes 134 in plate 16 after plate 16 has been indexed to bring the next pair of heels to correct sanding position at station D. If plate 16 has not been advanced through the proper angle so that the next pair of heels 72 are not correctly located on the contour plate 94, then hole 134 will` not be under finger 132 andimmediately upon commencement of upward movement of post 8 and the associated parts and before the heels have engaged the sanding disk, plate 16 will engage -inger 132, pushing it upwardly to actuate micro switch which instantly energizes solenoid valve 58h forcing the table down before mirco switch 52 is actuated thereby shutting down the machine. On the other hand, if plate 16 has advanced the correct distance, upward movement' of post 8 will result in iingerI 132I entering hole 134 and actuation of switch 1311 will not occur.

Valve 58 is a common article of commerce and a suitable device of this type is made by Beckett-Harcum Company, Wilmington, Ohio, Model BVPZ Double Solenoid Type, and it is not thought necessary to describe this valve in any further detail as the construction is well known:

In FIG. 8 is shown a wiring diagram'withthe various elements indicated-thereon. The sequence of operations in relation to FIG. 8 is as follows: As the start switch 42a is momentarily pressed, the advance solenoid 58a in the table cylinder valve 58 is energized. This causes the table to rise, closing the timer micro switch 46 thereby starting the timer 411. When the pre-set timer interval has elapsed, the timer will establish a circuit so that current will then flow to the retractA solenoid 58bin the table cylinder valve 58 causing the table to drop, and at the same time momentarily closing the one-way dog index rnicroswitch 46. This actuates the solenoid 71a of the air 4cylinder '71 so that the table 16 is indexed. As table 16 is indexed, the built-in impulse switch 73 in the index table is momentarily closed. This causes current to flow to the advance solenoid 53a in table cylinder valve 53 causing the table to rise, thus completing one cycle.

This cycle is repeated until stopped by closing the retract switch 42b, holding the same closed until movement is stopped, or by operation of the anti-index switch 130, the closing of which occurs if the indexing operation is improperly performed.

It is my invention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

l claim:

l. A heel sander comprising a base, a cylinder and piston carried by said base, a shelf aiixed to said piston, an indexing table on said shelf, a xed riding plate above said shelf and surrounding said indexing table, an indexing plate above said riding plate and attached to said indexing table, a source of compressed air, valve .means for supplying said compressed air alternately to the under and upper sides of said piston whereby said shelf, indexing table, riding plate and indexing plate may be moved up and down as a unit, a plurality of openings in said indexing plate equidistant from each other in which heels to be sanded may be placed and supported therein by said riding plate with the upper surface of said heel above said indexing plate, an aperture in said riding plate a vertically adjustable heel support carried by said shelf and located in said aperture and arranged to receive and support a heel that may be slid thereon by rotation of said indexing table and attached indexing plate, a sanding disk located above said aperture in substantial parallelism with said indexing plate, means for actuating said Valve means to cause upward movement of said piston immediately following indexing movement of said indexing table and indexing plate to force the heel then on said support into engagement with said disk for sanding at a constant pressure, and means for causing further actuation of said valve means a predetermined time after said piston has brought said heel into engagement with said disk to move said piston downward,

whereby each heel will be sanded under uniform pressure for a uniform time, and means for causing indexing of said indexing table and attached indexing plate after said piston has descended to bring the next heel to be sanded to position under said disk.

2. A heel sander comprising a base, a cylinder supported by said base, a piston in said cylinder and extending thereabove, a shelf carried by said piston, an indexing table mounted on said shelf, a riding plate fixed to and spaced vertically from said shelf, an indexing plate mounted on said indexing table and rotatable intermittently thereby through a uniform angular distance, apertures for receiving heels in said indexing plate, said riding plate yand indexing plate spaced vertically less than the thickness of a heel, a disc sander located above one of the stopping places of said apertures, said piston being intermediate said indexing table `and said sander, a source of constant pressure air, a valve controlling ow of air to said cylinder, another air cylinder and piston for causing indexing of said indexing table and indexing plate, and electrically actuated means for alternately causing up-down movement of said piston, indexing table, riding plate and indexing plate and indexing movement of said indexing table and indexing plate, whereby a succession of heels will be successively brought to said stopping place and then into engagement with said sander at constant pressure for a predetermined time.

3. Apparatus for sanding rubber heels comprising, a base, an indexing plate mounted for rotation on said base, a plurality of heel receiving apertures in said indexing plate symmetrically spaced radially of said index plate, said apertures being dimensioned to grip said heels iirmly around the periphery thereof to prevent relative movement of said heels therein, a sander mounted on said base in position above the path of said apertures, means for rotating said indexing plate intermittently to position said apertures successively under said sander, a riding plate xed relative to said base and buttressing said indexing plate in opposed relation only to said sander, means for reciprocally moving said riding and indexing plates together toward and away from said sander and, while moving toward said sander for urging a heel lodged in the aperture adjacent said sander against said sander at uniform pressure independent of the height of said heel, timing means for holding said heel against said sander for a predetermined length of time, and abutment ejection means mounted on said base in position above the path of said apertures but apart from said sander and further in position to eject a heel from said aperture when said indexing plate is moved toward said sander.

References Cited in the ille of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 766,783 Watson Aug. 2, 1904 1,361,883 Littman Dec. 19, 1920 1,432,093 Taylor Oct. 17, 1922 1,448,069 Hudson et al Mar. 13, 1923 1,707,421 Wilson et al. Apr. 2, 1929 

